When Perfection Fails: Victory Gospel Series by Tyora Moody

When Perfection Fails: Victory Gospel Series by Tyora Moody

Reverend
Jonathan Freeman and his wife Lenora are quickly becoming Charlotte’s
“it” couple. All eyes are on them as Jonathan is named pastor of a
church following the death of his father and Lenora has become a
sought-after wedding planner. The Freemans are media darlings and a
model couple; the picture of perfection. Or are they?

Behind the scenes, Jonathan struggles with his role as pastor of a
megachurch while Lenora grows increasingly and uncharacteristically
distant. A number of odd and tragic incidents push her further away from
the love of her life and the façade of perfection begins to crack.

A carefully guarded secret catches up with Lenora and it threatens her
security as well as that of her family. Has an imperfect past finally
caught up with her? Will the ghost of someone she thought long dead rise
like Lazarus from the grave and destroy all she has worked to preserve?
Or will Lenora fight to protect the man she loves and the beautiful
life God has blessed her to have?

Excerpt from When Perfection Fails by Tyora Moody
PROLOGUE

Charlotte, North Carolina, 1989

Lenora clutched the car dashboard and shouted as her friend almost
rammed the Honda Civic into the car in front of them. The brakes
squealed in protest as the car came to a stop inches away from the back
of the Buick LaSabre. Charmayne smacked the steering wheel. “Woo, that
was a close one.” Then, she started to laugh.

Lenora
stretched her eyes wide as she watched her friend appear as if she was
having a mental breakdown. “That wasn’t funny. You need to get yourself
together.”

The light
changed from red to green. The unscathed Buick took off and the driver
behind them was blowing his horn. Charmayne stopped giggling. She
grabbed the rearview mirror and made an obscene gesture with her hand.
“I know you ain’t blowing your horn at me.”

“Whatever!”
Charmayne placed her hands on the steering wheel. The car lurched
forward as she pressed the accelerator. After they had driven half-way
down the block, Lenora asked, “How much did you drink? Maybe I should
drive.”

Charmayne shook her head. “Girl, you can’t drive. Besides I’m fine.”

Her friend held up her fingers and counted. “I only had like two, three beers. I think.”

Lenora held her hand to her forehead. “If I had known...”

Charmayne held
her hand towards Lenora’s face. “Girl, would you stop tripping? I can
tell your momma don’t let you go nowhere. This might have been your
first time to a party, not mine. Just sit tight. I will have you home in
a second, okay.” She reached over and turned the radio’s volume dial up
high.

As Charmayne
proceeded to sing loudly to Bobby Brown’s “My Prerogative,”
Lenora sucked her teeth and crossed her arms. Why did I let Charmayne
convince me to go to this party? She felt bad lying to her mother
knowing how hard she worked and expected Lenora to keep up her grades.
Tonight was definitely not a study group session at Charmayne’s house.
As Lenora glanced out the window, something whizzed by the passenger
side. Before Lenora could register what she was seeing the car slid to
the right crashing into the flying object. The sounds of screeching
metal over the loud thumping music terrified Lenora.

“What was that?” Lenora yelled. She turned her body to see what had just scraped the side of the car.
“Charmayne, you have to stop the car.”

Charmayne slowed the car down and turned the blaring music down. She grabbed the rearview mirror and whined, “Oh no!”

“What?” Lenora
spun around to peer out the back window. They had turned down the road
leading to her home and there weren’t any other cars behind them. Lenora
squinted into the darkness. A streetlight illuminated cars parked along
the streets. Her eyes locked in on what appeared to be a body on the
road. Panic rose in her gut. She looked at Charmayne. “What did you do?
Is that a person?” Lenora spun around and reached for the door handle.